January 2009 MMA News Archive - Page 2

Do you have a hot MMA story or news item that you have found and would like to share?
Then read our guidelines then post it to our MMA News Share Forum to have it display here for the community to read on this page.

Hermes Franca – “Both guys are A+ level fighters and it is really hard to pick a winner for this fight. In my opinion the fans are going to be the biggest winners when this fight is over. In their first fight two years ago BJ came into the fight very strong and was able to push him around at the beginning but Georges St. Pierre won the second round and the third round was very close which lead to the split decision. I am going to stick with my pick that the fans are going to be the biggest winners.”
Rob Kaman –“This is a very tough fight to call. I think that BJ is the more animalistic fighter and that Georges St. Pierre is the more athletic fighter. Georges is always ready to go the distance and BJ’s conditioning has come into question throughout his career. This fight could end up being a fast win for BJ or decision win for GSP. They are both great fighters and like I said earlier, BJ is more animalistic in the sense that he enjoys punishing his opponents. Where as Georges St. Pierre is the more technical fighter, a pure athlete with the ability to knock out his opponents. I also think that GSP is going to have an advantage with his reach and it will be interesting to see how BJ counters that. If the fight ends in the first 3 rounds then I think it will be BJ. If the fight makes it into the championship rounds then I would have to take Georges St. Pierre.”

MMAmania.com has learned that there are concerns that Karo Parisyan will pull out of his upcoming bout against Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 94. Accordingly, the promotion has opted to line up a Plan B just in case The Heat needs to get out of the kitchen less than 48 hours before fight night. Newcomer is waiting in the wings, cutting weight and getting ready to make his Octagon debut against Kim if called upon.
Parisyan most recently recovered from an injury that forced him to withdraw from a fight against Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88 literally hours before showtime. It was an unfortunate situation that was made more curious with his admission the he has been dealing with panic attacks. Numerous fans claimed The Heat merely freaked out and used the injury as an excuse to bail from the bout. And if for some reason he is replaced by Story on such short notice this time around, it will likely stroke those flames even higher.
We should get more information on this developing situation as the weigh-in event and fight night draw closer. As of right now, Parisyan is still booked to fight the Stun Gun.

The idea of a "super fight" has been conceptualized for years, and mixed martial arts is an industry ripe for the addition of star vs. star, the best vs. the best, with jumping weight classes becoming more of an open option. One fight that has been talked about at great length is pitting top welterweight Georges St. Pierre against 185-pound kingpin Anderson Silva.
According to a recent interview on MMAWeekly Radio, St. Pierre said he's honored to be mentioned in the same breath as Silva, but he's focused only on his upcoming fight against B.J. Penn.

We caught up with Parisyan to ask him about his upcoming fight, and boy did we get our money’s worth. He held nothing back when discussing everything from Mazzagatti’s stoppage of the Alves fight, his workout regimen, his new strength and conditioning coach and his ongoing battle with a panic disorder.
Then again, when you’re talking to “The Heat,” you can expect nothing less.

WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner’s split decision victory over Donald Cerrone at WEC 38 last Sunday in San Diego, Calif., could become a costly title defense.
“I broke my right index metacarpal, completely fractured,” Varner said on Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show on Wednesday. “So I have to get pins put in it [Thursday]. Then I go next week to see my eye doctor to make sure my retina isn’t detached. And if it’s detached it could be a career-ending injury.”
Varner, who said he is still having trouble with his peripheral vision four days following the injury, has been indefinitely suspended until he can provide medical documentation that says the eye has recovered.
But it was the fight’s stoppage and the reaction it got that might have affected Varner the most.
“What hurt me the most was the crowd. They had no idea about the pain or suffering I was going through,” said Varner. “They had no idea I broke my hand in the first or second round. I don’t know exactly where. I remember one time in the fourth round that I just couldn’t hit him with it. I told my corner that I couldn’t use it anymore.
For Varner, the injuries kept on coming.
“He checked one of my kicks early in the fight and that’s where I fractured my foot,” said the Arizona Combat Sports fighter. “Then I kicked him in the head with it in the fourth and that was it. My foot was completely done. So I walked out for the fifth round with one hand and some takedowns. I had to grind out a decision… I knew the fifth round was going to be boring. I couldn’t offer anything really damaging.”
Varner (16-2) couldn’t see anything out of his right eye immediately following the illegal knee from Cerrone (9-1) that came in the final round and led the referee Josh Rosenthal to halt the bout. When a fighter can’t continue from an unintentional illegal blow, the bout goes to the scorecards. Varner was awarded the split decision...

Affliction MMA is Done.
Tom Atencio will be making an announcement soon.
A third show will probably happen to fulfill Affliction Entertainments larger contract obligations unless a deal with Zuffa can be arranged to offset some of the costs while Affliction pays off their contract obligations via "sponsorships"...

Arlovski held a video chat tonight for his fans. Some interesting stuff. Check it out. Talked about his fight with Fedor, his next fight, his boxing career, his "glass jaw", a possible return to the UFC, among other things.

The AP reports that BJ Penn and Georges St Pierre will be signing with UFC Gyms. The UFC will create signature gyms branded with the fighters names that would offer the fighters royalties on the usage of their names in conjunction with the gym. The UFC are at times heavy handed in their business dealings with their fighters, but the type of structure mentioned is encouraging and looks to be expanding the revenue pie in a way that benefits both the company and the fighters. Kudos to the UFC for this:
LAS VEGAS—The Ultimate Fighting Championship has signed deals with two of its top fighters to give them signature gyms in a chain of fitness clubs planned by the mixed martial arts league.
UFC President Dana White said Thursday that the gyms will be named for B.J. Penn and Georges St-Pierre, scheduled to fight Saturday in Las Vegas for the UFC welterweight title.
White says the fighters will be paid royalties from the gyms whether they are fighting or not.
Mark Mastrov, a former 24 Hour Fitness CEO working to open the new clubs, says the fighters’ gyms will be open by the end of the year in Penn’s native Hawaii and St-Pierre’s hometown of Montreal.

Georges St. Pierre, Rashad ‘Suga’ Evans, Karo Parisyan, Jeremy Horn, Rob Emerson and David Loiseau will have their signature line of shirts debuted at the Silver Star Clothing booth #22148, at the MAGIC trade-show in the Las Vegas Convention Center, February 17- 19, 2009.
Silver Star’s MMA collaboration includes: Rashad “Suga” Evans, who is known for defeating Forrest Griffin, the winner of the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality TV show, and remains undefeated; UFC welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre; one of the best welterweights in the world, Karo Parisyan; knockout master Rob Emerson; Jeremy Horn who have proved victorious against Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell; and David “The Crow” Loiseau. These fighters all have signature Silver Star tees honoring their athleticism and brute force, and more will be added to the Silver Star roster in the near future.
Silver Star is very excited to be working with these great fighters, and is presently in negotiations with Sean Sherk [one-time UFC lightweight champion] to bring him into the Silver Star fold.” said owner, Luke Burrett. “We have Rashad coming to sign autographs for fans and support the line at MAGIC, and I think this venture is going to be a very positive experience for all of us.”
Each high quality graphic tee made of 100% distressed cotton, and and includes foil accenting, with water-based dyes responsible for the powerful colors and no-hand-feel on the graphics. The art for these signature shirts is designed exclusively for the fighters, by Silver Star’s art team.

MMAPayout.com has learned that the third episode of UFC Primetime (10-10:30P) delivered a 0.6 household rating — a .64 among Men 18-49, a .44 among People 18-49, a .60 among Men 18-34 and had an average audience of 662,000 viewers.
The overall average for the three week run for UFC Prime Time was 789,000 viewers.
The three week run for Prime Time has to be judged a success. The usual one week lead in to a PPV often seems a bit abrupt, and wanting at times. The multi-week format gives a sustained, staggered build that should pay off at the PPV box office. This isn’t a concept that the UFC and Spike should drag out for every PPV but hopefully the format will return to periodically to hype their bigger cards

Less than 24 hours after the WEC officially scrapped a March 1 co-main event between welterweight champion Carlos Condit and challenger Brock Larson, the organization may be taking the preliminary steps in eliminating the entire 170-pound division.
Sources close to the event have alerted MMAjunkie.com that Condit has signed on for an April 1 main-event bout with Martin Kampmann.
Fiveouncesofpain.com first reported the possibility of the bout for UFC Fight Night 18, tentatively scheduled for Nashville, Tenn.

You'd think knockout victories over two former UFC heavyweight champs, would have UFC president Dana White salivating over Fedor Emelianenko. That's not the case according to White who says that he didn't even watch the Affliction 2 fight card and still hasn't seen the Fedor-Andrei Arlovski fight. Even though close to 9,000 paid to get into the Honda Center and the card did a gate of over $1.5 million, White doesn't care:
"If Fedor doesn't care than neither do I. If he wants to come over and fight the best in the world then that's cool with me. At the end of the day, if Fedor wants to fight here I'm here, if he doesn't I don't care."

When B.J. Penn was 20 years old, he could sit on the ground and, without using his hands, reach his foot up and scratch his head behind his ears.
Now a graybeard of 30, Penn admits that stunt may be a little bit out of his reach.
“I used to do a lot of things with my feet, but now that I’m getting older … ” Penn said, laughing heartily. “I’m pretty flexible. A lot more flexible than everybody else, but I’m not as flexible as I used to be.”

By the start of the second round, Nissen Osterneck was starting to rethink his debut fight appearance.
It was August 2006, and Osterneck stared down "Nasty" Nate Edwards in "Full Throttle 8." The Club Europe Ballroom crowd in Atlanta was watching the night's third fight, and it was brutal.
"So tough," Osterneck told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

“I’ve been anxious to get back in there. I’m glad it’s finally here. I’m getting kicked in [my knee], grappling with it. It’s fine. It’s holding up…. He [Jon Jones] knows this is a big shot, I know he’s gonna come ready and look to bring it. I’ll be ready for it…. I got a good game plan, I know his strengths and my strengths and how we match up and what I got to do to win. I’m gonna follow it and do my best but hopefully I can catch him with a knockout or submission early.”